L3VETRON Introduction:

AZiO is a new name here at OCC; well at least from the review stand point. Some of you may have heard of AZiO before – but may not have realized the market of gaming peripherals offered. But don’t get me wrong, AZiO has a broad range of peripherals not only for gaming, but for home theaters and even the office environment. Today we're going to focus in on some of the gaming items AZiO has on the market right now as part of the L3VETRON series. Although, somewhat of a tacky name, adding a 3 like l33t – the follow up with the crosshairs for an O makes the name look quite right written out. Besides the point, we'll be looking at the AZiO L3VETRON Mech5 Gaming Keyboard and the AZiO L3VETRON GM-2000 Gaming Mouse; all a part of a little AZiO roundup (though I'll tell you a secret – there's more AZiO to come).

L3VETRON Closer Look:

First up in its box is the L3VETRON Mech5. The front of the box sports the features of mechanical keys, the modular design, the Windows on/off key, and quite a list of detailed "wants". The picture shows the keyboard with all the included accessories attached and glowing in its fierce red around the macro keys and volume knob. It doesn't look too bad – I just hope that's what's actually inside. The back of the box goes on with more detail on the features; it has Cherry MX Black switches under those keys and supports quite the arrange-able setup with a movable number pad and sliding macro D-Pad. This should be a lot of fun to play with.

The box itself is pretty neat and I like the play on number/lettering. L3VETRON with a three and crosshairs is shown around every side of the box – all the edges and front and back. It's an interesting name for a series and quite frankly I like the way AZiO went with it. Inside the box is a neat black box hiding all the goods. A ghosted L3VETRON logo faintly shows on the box with a bright "by AZiO" signature to follow. It looks well bundled and sports the cost – but the moment of truth shall tell us if the $110 price tag is worth it.

Opening up the black box, the keyboard is tightly packed in form fitted cardboard with a plastic bag for extra safety (not sure it's safety but it keeps it clean and dry from whatever crazy weather the delivery guy leaves your box in). Unpacking the goods – there is quite a bit here: the keyboard itself, a detached number pad, a six button macro pad, and some starting guides/driver CD. There's plenty to play with here and lots to discuss ahead - read along!

The mouse box follows a similar theme. L3VETRON is shown on all sides of the box as well as some nice pictures of the mouse to go along. The mouse is featured with an ergonomic design with six buttons and three on-the-fly DPI settings. The back of the box goes on to share these features in eight different languages with a table summarizing the features (on the specs and features page) all in English. With a peak in window the box is ready for the shelf.